[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 154 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13283-S13287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006

  Mr. FRIST. I now ask unanimous consent the Senate begin consideration 
of H.J. Res. 72, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Isakson). Is there objection?
  The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I am reserving the right to object, to 
speak with the leader for a moment about a situation that is developing 
at home and one of which he is certainly aware.
  I understand that the motion that has been put forward would allow 
the Congress to go home for approximately 30 days and to come back in 
the middle of December to finish our business. I wanted to ask the 
leader if it is his intention when we come back to press forward for 
the supplemental bill that the senior Senator from Mississippi, Senator 
Cochran, and others have been working on for relief for the gulf coast. 
It is a very important piece of legislation, and many people, 
individuals and businesses, large and small, have been waiting for some 
direct, significant funding. I wanted to ask the leader from Tennessee 
what his intentions are when we get back, at least as he can press the 
Senate and press our colleagues in the House to move that piece of 
legislation.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the issues the distinguished Senator from 
Louisiana comments on and mentions are something we take very seriously 
here. As she well knows, my personal commitment, the commitment of 
leadership on both sides of the aisle, is to address the issues. We 
have worked very hard, both in a personal sense and in an institutional 
sense. With regard to the latter, we passed 21 separate pieces of 
legislation that have responded to many of the immediate needs. I well 
recognize these needs are ongoing. We are going to need to stay on top 
of them, which I pledge and leadership pledges to continue to do.

[[Page S13284]]

  We will be coming back in December, depending on the outcome of 
today, in all likelihood, and we will continue to address these very 
important issues. Several issues we will be addressing over the course 
of the day as well.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask the leader, if I could, please, I understand, I 
want the leader to know, we have passed 21 pieces of legislation. I 
take him at his word. It has been very hard to follow as these things 
have moved so quickly, in some cases, and not so quickly in others. But 
I want to make a point and ask the leader that. Because we pass 
legislation does not necessarily mean it has been effective. Sometimes 
Congress has a way of passing legislation, but that is not any 
guarantee it is actually working.
  As the Senator from Tennessee knows, the members of the Louisiana 
delegation, joined at times by members of the Mississippi delegation, 
have consistently said that money given to FEMA is not making its way 
to the hands of people in businesses. As the leader knows, the housing 
money has been very difficult for people to get. Shelter has been very 
difficult to get, housing has been very difficult to get. Many of our 
businesses that have applied for loans that are authorized have not yet 
received a response from FEMA or the Small Business Administration.
  For the record, I say it is not the quantity of legislation but the 
quality of legislation, and that is why this supplemental Senator 
Cochran has been crafting is so important. We think this may be the 
first major piece of legislation that actually gets money into the 
hands of people who can do something with it other than having it sit 
in bank accounts while people are suffering and trying to get their 
lives back together.
  I understand the Senator from Tennessee is aware of these great 
needs. He himself has been down to our State, and we are appreciative 
of that. But that is the point. If I could get a comment about the 
importance of the supplemental, that would be of some comfort to the 
people of the gulf coast.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I obviously am committed not only to what 
is in the supplemental, but I think we need to make it very clear to 
our colleagues and to the people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and 
Alabama, where I have personally visited very early on and have visited 
after that again and again, that in terms of responsiveness, we have 
been responsive in many ways. When I say 21 pieces of legislation, 
people say, What does that mean? Let me give examples. In terms of 
things that have been enacted or cleared for the President, we have 
passed the emergency supplemental, No. 1, which was $10.5 billion in 
Public Law 10961. We passed another emergency supplemental for $51.8 
billion. We passed a Katrina short-term tax relief bill for $6.1 
billion; flood insurance borrowing authority, H.R. 3669, for $2 
billion; the TANF disaster relief bill for $.3 billion; the unemployed 
insurance provisions for $.16 billion. We passed a bill for 
redistribution of campus student aid, another bill for Pell grant 
relief, another bill for the Community Disaster Loan Act, for a total 
of $70.9 billion.
  Those are the things that have passed the Senate and the House. If 
you look at the things passed by the Senate, there are another nine 
bills for $9 billion: the Deficit Reduction Act, Sarbanes housing 
amendment, the Snowe small business amendment, the Katrina education 
reimbursement bill, the Baucus economic development amendment, the Byrd 
unemployment HHS IG amendment, the Harkin legal services amendment--all 
of which have been passed by the Senate, this body.
  I want my colleagues and the American people to understand we are 
acting and we are moving. We have a lot more to do, which I think is 
the importance of the supplemental. The distinguished chairman, who is 
here on the floor, knows we are focused on it and there is going to 
need to be more assistance there in order to renew and rebuild and 
respond. This body understands the importance. We are absolutely 
committed to that continued support for our appropriate renewal.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. The Senator has been very patient. I realize we have to 
move forward. But if he would grant me a few more questions--one or 
two.
  I understand those pieces and those packages, because of course we 
are following them very carefully. But I want the record to reflect 
that this morning, as we break, there was $70.9 billion appropriated 
and $30 billion is still sitting in a bank somewhere in a FEMA account. 
So we have allocated $40 billion. I would judge from the controversies 
and reports that much of that money was squandered in many ways that we 
know, and used in an inefficient manner. But I would call to the 
attention of the leader that we have not passed an emergency education 
bill which would cover tuition for children, 370,000 children who are 
today displaced from the school they were in the week before Katrina 
and Rita. Those 370,000 children have not yet received word from this 
Congress if their tuition will be covered. That is not done yet.
  We have not passed a comprehensive health care piece that allows 
people with no job, no home, no school, and no church to think that 
they could show up at a hospital over the holidays and get their health 
care covered. That has not passed yet.
  We have not passed any loans to our governments in Louisiana that 
would allow them to operate and pay for police and fire over the 
holidays because the loan package we passed was inoperable because they 
cannot pay the money back in 3 years.
  So for the record, we have no real health care relief, no significant 
elementary and secondary care relief, our universities are teetering on 
bankruptcy and closure, and our medical schools are having 
difficulty. The dean of LSU Medical School took a job out of our State. 
It was announced this week. I don't blame him for leaving because he 
doesn't see any help on the way. It is one of the great medical schools 
in the country.

  Finally, FEMA--to pour salt on the wound, to make sure we were all 
having just the very best Thanksgiving we could possibly have--
announced that they are going to make us homeless for the holiday and 
has announced that on December 1, everyone who is in a shelter or a 
hotel in the country--they do not have an accurate number, so they do 
not know how many, and if they do not know how many, how are they 
planning to help them? But believe me, there are thousands who are now 
going to be put on the streets and will be homeless for the holidays.
  I just tell my colleagues as respectfully as I can that when we are 
sitting around our tables--and I will be at a different table, and many 
people from Louisiana will not be at the table which they usually are 
to have Thanksgiving dinner. I will be at a different table, Senator 
Lott will be at a different table, and perhaps Senator Cochran will be 
at a different table. But as we sit around our tables, there will be 
thousands and hundreds of thousands of families who have no table to 
pull up to. They are in shelters, they are on the street, and they are 
crowded into apartments that they can barely afford with no hope and no 
plan.
  I will say it for the last time. We are not dealing with a regular 
hurricane. We are dealing with an unprecedented natural disaster caused 
by the collapse of a Federal levee system that was not invested in, not 
maintained, and not funded. It is a disaster for the region and for the 
Nation. I cannot say this more emphatically or more passionately. I 
have tried to be a team player. We have tried to be cooperative. We 
have tried every strategy. We are running out of strategies.
  I want my colleagues to know that while I will allow this resolution 
to go forward today, if we do not come back in December and pass a 
robust supplemental that reflects the values of this body--not what 
Mary Landrieu wants in it, not what Louisiana thinks it deserves, 
although we think we are entitled to say what we deserve--that reflects 
the values of the men and women who serve in this body whom I know so 
well from having worked with them, if we don't have a supplemental and 
if we don't get some action on our levee system so people can have 
confidence to come back, and a few other emergency items that we need, 
we will not be going home for Christmas.
  We are going home for Thanksgiving, but we will not be going home for 
Christmas until the people of the gulf coast understand they have a 
home they can go to, if not this Christmas, some Christmas soon.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

[[Page S13285]]

  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 72) making further continuing 
     appropriations for the fiscal year 2006, and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the joint 
resolution.


                           Amendment No. 2672

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment, which is at the 
desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Iowa [Mr. Harkin], for himself, Mr. 
     Jeffords, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Bingaman, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. 
     Stabenow, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Akaka, Mr. 
     Kerry, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Carper, Mr. Kohl, and Mr. Leahy, 
     proposes an amendment numbered 2672.

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

 (Purpose: To increase the amount appropriated to carry out under the 
                  Community Services Block Grant Act)

       At the end of the resolution, insert the following:

     SEC. 2. COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT ACT.

       Notwithstanding section 101 of Public Law 109-77, for the 
     period beginning on October 1, 2005 and ending on December 
     17, 2005, the amount appropriated under that Public Law to 
     carry out the Community Services Block Grant Act shall be 
     based on a rate for operations that is not less than the rate 
     for operations for activities carried out under such Act for 
     fiscal year 2005.

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I understand that under the order, I will 
be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. HARKIN. I might reserve a little bit of time. I may have other 
colleagues who will come over to speak.
  Just to refresh memories, when this continuing resolution was passed 
at the end of September, I came on the floor and offered an amendment 
that would have kept whole the Community Services Block Grant program. 
That is a program that administers the LIHEAP program, administers a 
lot of Head Start programs, Even Start programs, Older Americans Act 
programs, elderly transportation programs, emergency shelter programs, 
weatherization assistance--you get the idea. Most of the programs 
really help a lot of poor people in this country. Last year's level was 
$636.8 million.
  The amendment I offered in September would have kept the funding of 
the Community Services Block Grant program at that level. You might say 
that was a continuing resolution. A continuing resolution keeps things 
at last year's level. Therein lies the problem.
  The House sent us a continuing resolution that said: We will continue 
programs at last year's level or at the level of the House budget, 
whichever is less. The House budget cut the Community Services Block 
Grants Program down to less than $320 million. They cut it in half. 
That is the level it was in 1986.
  I said in September that it was unfair for poor people to have to 
have theirs cut right away down to that level because winter was coming 
and you need the heating energy assistance and things like that.
  At that time, at the end of September, there was a lot of talk. We 
couldn't accept this amendment because the House had gone out. As long 
as the House was out and if we changed the continuing resolution, that 
meant the entire House of Representatives would have to come back to 
Washington, DC, and do something about this. I said at the time on the 
floor, big deal. They came back for a lot of other things; they could 
come back for this, too.
  Obviously, my arguments did not prevail. The amendment was defeated; 
whereupon, however, the chairman of the Appropriations Defense 
Subcommittee, the Senator from Alaska, Mr. Stevens, said that he was 
going to take my amendment that continues the community services block 
grants at last year's level and put it on the Defense appropriations 
bill, which he did and for which I commended him. We all thought that 
the Defense appropriations bill would zing through here right away. 
Fine.
  Here we are. It is November 18, and the Defense appropriations bill 
has not been passed--and we don't know when; probably next month, I 
suppose, before the end of the year.
  We have another continuing resolution. The continuing resolution 
expires today at midnight. We know that. The continuing resolution is 
the same. It is at either last year's level or the House budget level, 
whichever is less. That means the Community Services Block Grant 
program is still cut down to the level it was in 1986.
  The amendment I am offering today basically says--it is the same 
amendment, basically--for the purposes of this continuing resolution, 
the community services block grant shall be based on the rate that it 
was last year, which is $636.6 million.
  On November 8, barely a week and a half ago, 58 Senators from both 
sides of the aisle cosigned a letter saying we want to keep the 
Community Services Block Grant Program at the Senate level, at last 
year's level. That is what we did in our bill, and 58 Senators a week 
and a half ago signed this letter to keep it at the same level. Yet 
today we are going to pass a continuing resolution that cuts it in 
half. This continuing resolution is until December 18.
  There is another unique feature about the Community Services Block 
Grant Program that I wish to bring to the Senate's attention. Unlike a 
lot of programs, such as education, for example, wherein the money goes 
out basically next summer, if we use that language--the lower of the 
House level--it doesn't mean a lot because the money is not going to go 
out until next summer, and we probably will fix this prior to going 
home for Christmas. I think. I don't know. We have had CRs going into 
January and into February. That is not unusual around here.
  So we have a continuing resolution before us today that says until 
December 18, and we think it will be done by then. It may not be. I 
don't know how many people around here would like to bet a dollar to a 
dime on that one. Maybe yes; maybe no; get it done by December 18. It 
could go into next year.
  Here we have a situation, unlike education, where the money goes out 
next summer, and we will fix it before then, certainly. The Community 
Services Block Grant program goes out quarterly. Every quarter, the 
money goes out and is used. That means right now we are about 7 weeks 
into this quarter, and the entire nationwide Community Services Block 
Grant program has been operating at the level of $320 million. That is 
bad enough. If we extend that another month, it could be disastrous, or 
another 2 months, because it is not like they can draw down some money 
somewhere and say: We are going to get it next year, we will make up 
for it. They can't just go to the bank and borrow the money. They do 
not have it. If they don't have the money for weatherization or for 
Head Start programs or for low-income energy assistance programs, they 
just do not do it.
  We have had vote after vote here when Members supported the Low-
Income Energy Heating Assistance Program. It is vitally needed. But if 
you do not have the people to administer the program and get the goods 
and hire the people to administer it, what good does it do? That is 
what the Community Services Block Grant program does.
  You may hear talk that the Community Services Block Grant program is 
just one part of the picture because there are State and local 
governments that help. That is true. There are private charities that 
help. That is true. That is the good thing about this program--it 
brings a lot of different stakeholders into play. But there is the 
anchor, there is the anchor of the money. If that is not there, they do 
not even have the people to go out and do anything.
  I ask Senators to think about this. Here is a program that is widely 
supported; 58 Senators signed a letter a week and a half ago. We passed 
it in our Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee 
when it was on the floor at last year's level, $636.8 million. No one 
talked against that. It just passed. We all supported it. As a matter 
of fact, if I am not mistaken, I think it was later supported by the 
House, even though their numbers were less. The conference report

[[Page S13286]]

that was rejected by the House at least had this high figure in it.
  So we find ourselves in an odd situation with another continuing 
resolution in the dead of winter when the homeless need a lot of help, 
when poor people are put to the extreme in terms of buying enough food, 
energy to heat their homes, get clothes for their kids, finding enough 
money for rent, going to food banks when the food stamps run out.

  Any Senator here who has been to the food banks in their State knows 
that the food bank demand is up over what it has been in the past 
because food stamps are running out about the third week of the month, 
and poor families are going to the food banks to get food. I say to any 
Senator, go to your food bank--any State, I don't care which State it 
is--go to your food banks, food pantries, and ask them whether the 
demand for food is up over what it was last year or just a few months 
ago. That is the program administered by the Community Services Block 
Grant program.
  The argument that was made in September is we could not do this 
because the House would have to come back, and they cannot do it, la-
de-da, and all that stuff. Well, the House is in session today--they 
may be in session tomorrow, I don't know. But they are in session 
today. We could pass this amendment; say, no, the one program we are 
going to exempt from the 50-percent cut of the House of Representatives 
is Community Services Block Grant program. Send it back to the House, 
let them bring it up and pass it and send it to the President. The 
argument that we could not do it because of the time pressures does not 
hold any longer.
  This is just a matter of simple justice. If this were a program that 
could make up the money later on next year, it would be different. This 
is now. People need help now for housing, for rental assistance, food 
banks, heating energy assistance, Head Start, foster grandparents, 
rental assistance.
  One of the things the Community Services Block Grant program does for 
people includes if they are evicted and they need someplace to stay. 
Think of the single mother with two or three children. The husband has 
left her and gone off someplace. They have been in an apartment, maybe 
there has been an illness in the family for which they are not 
covered--who knows what kind of calamities could have hit--and they 
find themselves evicted. They can go to the local community action 
agency in their area. One of the things they will do is they will find 
them a place to live. They will give them rental assistance to get them 
established and a place to live. That is what this program does. What I 
just described happens 10 times a day in 1,000 cities across America--
100,000 times a day.
  I hope we can pass this amendment. It is very simple and 
straightforward. Leave the Community Services Block Grant program at 
last year's level. We have all said that is where we want it. We need 
to get that money out there. The House is in session. They can pass it 
and send it to the President.
  How much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 6 minutes 14 seconds.
  Mr. HARKIN. I reserve the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa be advised that the time 
continues to run.
  Mr. HARKIN. How much time total?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Five minutes sixteen seconds. The Senator was 
originally yielded 20 minutes, and the Senator has used 14 minutes.
  Mr. HARKIN. How much time on the other side?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is no time on the other side.
  Mr. HARKIN. Parliamentary inquiry: I understand I had 20 minutes to 
speak and there is no time on the other side to speak on this 
amendment?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. HARKIN. There are a couple of other points.
  The amendment is a straight failure. Senators understand it. But I 
will point out, because of a quirk in the law, there are some States 
that are cut more than others.
  Here is what that means. This gets a little complicated, but I think 
the States that are going to be voting need to know this. If the total 
funding for a fiscal year is less than $345 million, then no State 
shall receive less than one-fourth of 1 percent. Now, last year, since 
we cut it back to $320.6 million, that means there are 13 States--
Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, 
North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming--that are not 
cut by 50 percent; they are cut by 75 percent. Because of a quirk in 
the law, 13 of our smallest States have a 75-percent cut. That is what 
they are operating at right now in those States.
  I say to the Senators from those States, this may not be knowledge to 
a lot of Members. I happen to know about this program because I am on 
both the committees that administer it, but this is a program that 
helps the poorest in our country.
  I anticipate there may be some other reasons people do not want to 
vote for this, but as long as 58 Senators signed the letter a week and 
a half ago, as long as the House is in session, it seems to me we could 
vote on this and let the House do it.
  As I said, this is the dead of winter. We were told at the end of 
September that the Defense appropriations bill would be acted upon. 
This amendment was included. But it has not been acted on. We are now 
told we have a continuing resolution until December 18, but will we 
really act on it by December 18? As I said, who can bet on that around 
here?
  These are the poorest of our poor people. Can't we at least say we 
are going to hold them a little bit harmless in this? It is not that we 
are holding them harmless, we are holding them at last year's level, 
which means it is cut a little bit simply because of the cost-of-living 
increase. But to be cut 50 percent, and in 13 States to be cut by 75 
percent, is grossly unfair.
  Let's do the moral thing. Let's do the right thing. This is a very 
small matter, a small thing to do, to pass this amendment and send it 
to the House and have them pass it on.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the letter I 
discussed.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                 Washington, DC, November 9, 2005.
     Hon. Arlen Specter,
     Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, 
         Appropriations, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Tom Harkin,
     Ranking Member, Senate Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, 
         Appropriations, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators Specter and Harkin: We applaud the Senate 
     Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education 
     Appropriations Subcommittees (Labor HHS) for restoring 
     funding to the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). In the 
     face of budget constraints and competing priorities, we urge 
     you to uphold the Senate funding level of $637 million in 
     negotiations with the House on H.R. 3010, the Labor-HHS 
     Appropriations bill.
       As you know, CSBG helps to strengthen communities by 
     helping low-income individuals and families to become self-
     sufficient. Nearly one-fourth of Americans living in poverty 
     receive services from CSBG grantees located in 90 percent of 
     the nation's counties. Please enable these entities to 
     continue their vital assistance to families and communities.
       We urge you to insist on the Senate positions in CSBG, $637 
     million, during final negotiations on H.R. 3010. Thank you 
     for your continued efforts on this issue.
           Sincerely,
         Charles E. Grassley, Orrin G. Hatch, Olympia J. Snowe, 
           Rick Santorum, Christopher J. Dodd, Edward M. Kennedy, 
           Max Baucus, Jeff Bingaman, Jim Bunning, Lamar 
           Alexander, Richard Burr, Mike DeWine, George Allen, 
           Conrad Burns, Lincoln D. Chafee, Norm Coleman, Susan M. 
           Collins, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kent Conrad, James M. 
           Jeffords, John F. Kerry, Blanche L. Lincoln, Barbara A. 
           Mikulski, Jack Reed, John D. Rockefeller, Charles 
           Schumer, James M. Talent, John Thune, George V. 
           Voinovich, John W. Warner, Mark Dayton.

[[Page S13287]]

         Richard J. Durbin, Joseph R. Biden, Jr, Barbara Boxer, 
           Maria Cantwell, Thomas R. Carper, Jon S. Corzine, Byron 
           L. Dorgan, Dianne Feinstein, Frank R. Lautenberg, 
           Joseph I. Lieberman, E. Benjamin Nelson, Barack Obama, 
           Ken Salazar, Debbie Stabenow, Russell D. Feingold, Tim 
           Johnson, Patrick J. Leahy, Carl Levin, Bill Nelson, 
           Mark Pryor, Paul S. Sarbanes.

  Mr. HARKIN. I yield back the remainder of my time and ask for the 
yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator yields back the remainder of his 
time.
  Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the amendment of the Senator from 
Iowa.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Oregon (Mr. Smith).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. 
Corzine), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), and the Senator from 
Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) are necessarily absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) would vote ``yea.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 46, nays 50, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 348 Leg.]

                                YEAS--46

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Clinton
     Collins
     Conrad
     Dayton
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Snowe
     Specter
     Wyden

                                NAYS--50

     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Corzine
     Inouye
     Smith
     Stabenow
  The amendment (No. 2672) was rejected.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which 
the amendment was not agreed to.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the third reading and 
passage of the joint resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to a third reading and was read the 
third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, is this the continuing resolution?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, earlier this morning we had a colloquy 
that expressed concerns.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator will be advised that all time for 
debate has expired.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we had a colloquy this morning with the 
leader about the need to do more for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita. I am not going to ask for a record vote, and I am not going 
to delay the debate, but I do want to be recorded as voting ``no'' if 
we have a voice vote. It is very important to let people in this 
country know that our work is not yet finished. While we are breaking 
for the holidays, there will be many people who have no holiday table 
to go home to. Members of this body have worked very hard. I respect 
the work that each has done. We have worked in a bipartisan way to 
address some issues of health care, education, and housing. But just 
because we have done our job doesn't mean the same thing is actually 
happening on the other side of the Capitol.
  There are still more issues that we need to find solutions for. We 
need to find a solution for the health care crisis along the gulf coast 
due to the hurricanes and subsequent levee breeches. We need to find a 
solution for the massive housing shortage throughout the States that 
Katrina and Rita whipped through. We need to find a solution for the 
small businesses that have been devastated and the thousands of people 
who have been left jobless. And we need to find a solution to building 
Category 5 levees and providing plenty of storm and flood protection 
which also means restoring our vital coastal wetlands, as they are our 
first line of defense. Without this protection, all our other efforts 
will be for naught.
  We need solutions, Mr. President. We need real answers, because it is 
unsettling to know that while we go home to have Thanksgiving with our 
families, my constituents still have real problems and real needs. And 
so I thank you, Mr. President, for this time and for allowing me to 
note for the record, that I am voting no to this continuing resolution 
because our job is not finished, and these vital concerns are not 
settled.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The joint resolution having been read the 
third time, the question is, Shall it pass?
  The joint resolution (H. J. Res. 72) was passed.
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote and to lay 
that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.

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